DG's Takeaways from the UTEP Game

[LouderVol]

turnovers were the big negative for me. Banks at the goal line was an effort thing, but this is the second one he has lost, first that has counted. needs a tighter hand on the ball. Callaway was just sloppy, lost focus imo. both should be coachable, but those are big time momentum play.

pass rush has definitely improved but bring down the QB hasn't. seems like there were several times where we got hands on the QB and he slipped out. SEC qbs won't hold the ball long enough for us to depend on the third/fourth guy getting there.

 

[Smokey'sHandler]

So 13/36 on 3rd down is a shallow argument? Do you think that is gonna do the job against an SEC defense?

It would be interesting here to see a breakdown of our 36 3rd downs by distance (0-5 yards, 5-10 yards, 10 yards +) and the comparison of run vs. pass in those buckets with their success rates. This would give you a solid breakdown of how truly effective the run vs. pass game is in 3rd down situations. We haven't been the most successful on 3rd down in the past couple of games but it has appeared that when we have gotten in the 0-5 yard range we have run almost 100% of the time along with a strong run distribution in the 5-10 yard range. This could be due to us wanting to work extensively on the ground game or just to be vanilla. To get a good taste of what JG can do on 3rd down when we open up the playbook a bit I would go watch the 5-10 yards+ quadrant 3rd downs of the WVU game. JG was highly effective in these situations when the ball was in his hands.

 

[Jnunn]

So 13/36 on 3rd down is a shallow argument? Do you think that is gonna do the job against an SEC defense?

Well your initial argument was that JG did not perform great because we went 4/12 on third downs, so I will address that argument first. As DG pointed out, that number includes 3rd downs in which Chryst played. That also includes long 3rd downs after penalties including one 3rd and 25. Obviously if we get into 3rd and 25's against SEC opponents we will be in trouble. But that wasn't your initial point. Your point was JG somehow played badly based on the 4/12 number, which has been conclusively shown to be a misinterpretation of the data.

Now, since you pivoted and changed your argument after you were called out, I will now address your second argument, that 13/36 will do the job. No, 13/36 will not do the job, you are correct about that. But that is a team based argument that completely ignores what your actual argument was about JG. How responsible is JG for the 13/36? Obviously he is at least somewhat responsible, but as we have already addressed some of that number either involved Chryst or involved long 3rd downs due to braindead penalties by other members of the team.

If you felt compelled to drill down to downs that were 3rd and 10 or less in which JG was primarily involved in the play, I would think that would be great information. But since you want to attribute the success or failure of variables outside of JG's control onto JG himself, I will choose to say that your logic is shallow.

 

[piratelifeforme]

Well your initial argument was that JG did not perform great because we went 4/12 on third downs, so I will address that argument first. As DG pointed out, that number includes 3rd downs in which Chryst played. That also includes long 3rd downs after penalties including one 3rd and 25. Obviously if we get into 3rd and 25's against SEC opponents we will be in trouble. But that wasn't your initial point. Your point was JG somehow played badly based on the 4/12 number, which has been conclusively shown to be a misinterpretation of the data.

Now, since you pivoted and changed your argument after you were called out, I will now address your second argument, that 13/36 will do the job. No, 13/36 will not do the job, you are correct about that. But that is a team based argument that completely ignores what your actual argument was about JG. How responsible is JG for the 13/36? Obviously he is at least somewhat responsible, but as we have already addressed some of that number either involved Chryst or involved long 3rd downs due to braindead penalties by other members of the team.

If you felt compelled to drill down to downs that were 3rd and 10 or less in which JG was primarily involved in the play, I would think that would be great information. But since you want to attribute the success or failure of variables outside of JG's control onto JG himself, I will choose to say that your logic is shallow.

you wanted that stat well here it is

JG has been involved in 21 3rd down plays over the 3 games. they are as follows

Game 1
0 for 1 - 3 and 20 - he is involved because his fumble caused the down and distance
1 for 2 - 3 and 8 - complete pass
2 for 3 - 3 and 7 - complete pass
2 for 4 - 3 and 14 - incomplete pass
2 for 5 - 3 and 22 - he took a sack on 1st down
2 for 6 - 3 and 5 - incomplete pass
2 for 7 - 3 and goal - pass complete but short
2 for 8 - 3 and 6 - incomplete pass


Game 2
1 for 1 - 3 and 7 - complete pass
1 for 2 - 3 and goal - incomplete pass
2 for 3 - 3 and 7 - pass complete
2 for 4 - 3 and 6 - incomplete pass
2 for 5 - 3 and 2 - incomplete pass
3 for 6 - 3 and 7 - pass complete

Game 3
0 for 1 - 3 and 4 - pass incomplete
0 for 2 - 3 and goal - delay penalty
0 for 3 - 3 and goal - pass complete but short
0 for 4 - 3 and 15 - JG run short
0 for 5 - 3 and 10 - pass complete short
1 for 6 - 3 and 6 - pass complete

as you can see he is 6 / 20 in 3rd down plays in which he is involved. This 30% is a far cry from the 75% completion percentage people wanna talk about and will not get you anywhere near a win in the SEC.

 

[piratelifeforme]

It would be interesting here to see a breakdown of our 36 3rd downs by distance (0-5 yards, 5-10 yards, 10 yards +) and the comparison of run vs. pass in those buckets with their success rates. This would give you a solid breakdown of how truly effective the run vs. pass game is in 3rd down situations. We haven't been the most successful on 3rd down in the past couple of games but it has appeared that when we have gotten in the 0-5 yard range we have run almost 100% of the time along with a strong run distribution in the 5-10 yard range. This could be due to us wanting to work extensively on the ground game or just to be vanilla. To get a good taste of what JG can do on 3rd down when we open up the playbook a bit I would go watch the 5-10 yards+ quadrant 3rd downs of the WVU game. JG was highly effective in these situations when the ball was in his hands.

Just posted those stats

 

[Jnunn]

you wanted that stat well here it is

JG has been involved in 21 3rd down plays over the 3 games. they are as follows

Game 1
0 for 1 - 3 and 20 - he is involved because his fumble caused the down and distance
1 for 2 - 3 and 8 - complete pass
2 for 3 - 3 and 7 - complete pass
2 for 4 - 3 and 14 - incomplete pass
2 for 5 - 3 and 22 - he took a sack on 1st down
2 for 6 - 3 and 5 - incomplete pass
2 for 7 - 3 and goal - pass complete but short
2 for 8 - 3 and 6 - incomplete pass


Game 2
1 for 1 - 3 and 7 - complete pass
1 for 2 - 3 and goal - incomplete pass
2 for 3 - 3 and 7 - pass complete
2 for 4 - 3 and 6 - incomplete pass
2 for 5 - 3 and 2 - incomplete pass
3 for 6 - 3 and 7 - pass complete

Game 3
0 for 1 - 3 and 4 - pass incomplete
0 for 2 - 3 and goal - delay penalty
0 for 3 - 3 and goal - pass complete but short
0 for 4 - 3 and 15 - JG run short
0 for 5 - 3 and 10 - pass complete short
1 for 6 - 3 and 6 - pass complete

as you can see he is 6 / 20 in 3rd down plays in which he is involved. This 30% is a far cry from the 75% completion percentage people wanna talk about and will not get you anywhere near a win in the SEC.

Now that is some good information. Mad respect for putting up.

You are right, JG has to do better than that for us to win SEC games. Hopefully we can trust him and the OL enough to open up the playbook a little more and get creative.

 

[Smokey'sHandler]

Game 1
0 for 1 - 3 and 20 - he is involved because his fumble caused the down and distance

First rule of thumb in making statistically based decisions: Do not let any pre-determined bias be incorporated. This bias will intentionally sway your results towards your projected argument.

While grant it we were 0 for 1 on after this first drive of the season but if you are seriously going to blame JG on a busted protection where the guy hit him immediately on a 1 step drop you are seriously showing your bias.

Now what you can take from your stats is that JG is 8 for 16 (50% completion rate) on 3rd downs. This is less than his 72% completion rate on the season. Of his 8 completions 3 wound up short of the line to gain. This could be attributed to route scheme, execution of the route scheme and protection of the o-line (which as we all know has been suspect). So of the 16 drop backs how many included pressure or a QB hurry? This right here is directly attributed to the o-line pass protection which per Pro Football Focus was the single worst unit on our team within the first two weeks.

If a QB drops back and has less than 2 seconds to get a throw off against a 3 or 4 man rush with 7-8 dropped back into coverage would an incompletion or sack be attributed to the offensive line instead of the QB?

My point is there really was no point in going further past your first data point since it showed obvious bias. If you want to make a true judgement you need all of the stats not just ones that you intentionally want to throw in there to sway towards your argument.

 

[dlturner00]

JG is not the QB Tua is at this point, as someone alluded to earlier. But I think he is absolutely good enough to make us competitive in any game. He is making good reads and not throwing picks. Richmond has got to go. That chop block cost us a touchdown and was nowhere near the play. If he can't get it done now, he never will. J. Johnson may develop but he looks bad right now. Solid Oline play would make us a completely different team, but apparently we just don't have anybody right now. Hopefully that will change with recruiting, but that will take time. In the next 4 weeks we'll know how bad or good it really is. 7 wins is still possible but highly unlikely at this point.

 

[Thall17]

Am I the only one that is questioning Helton? I haven't bought into his abilities. He's made some bonehead calls. They have a MAJOR identity crisis on offense. Personally, the O-Line is so bad that I think they should throw it every single down. Let JG win us or lose us the ball game. I like our chances with this kid at QB. That position was the biggest question mark heading into the season and is BY FAR the most stable position we got. JG is doing much better than anticipated.

 

[sjt18]

Am I the only one that is questioning Helton? I haven't bought into his abilities. He's made some bonehead calls. They have a MAJOR identity crisis on offense. Personally, the O-Line is so bad that I think they should throw it every single down. Let JG win us or lose us the ball game. I like our chances with this kid at QB. That position was the biggest question mark heading into the season and is BY FAR the most stable position we got. JG is doing much better than anticipated.

OC's do not determine overall strategy. Pruitt does. Pruitt wants to be a physical run team. They will be more balanced than they were vs UTEP... but if you are looking for the bold then you might want to hide your eyes for the next few years.

Like it or not, Pruitt wants all fingers pointed at him. He doesn't allow the media a lot of access to players or assistants. He takes the blame when things don't go well. He has a vision for what he wants the team to be... and it isn't what you posted.

I suggested elsewhere that Cut's dink and dunk O could be a way of getting production now while moving toward what Pruitt wants. So far, it appears he's going to pound that square peg into total submission.

 

[MWAVolfan]

It was cupcake game #2 of the season. While gloom-and-doom seemed to be flooding this board after the game, I felt much more positive about our team after this one. Here were my thoughts.


Offense

512 – 134. Our yardage versus theirs. Even against a G5 opponent, this is pretty impressive. We were completely dominant except for …

Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes!!! Huge mistakes cost us at least 14 points if not more. The chop block near the goal line was 7 points. The fumble near the goal line was likely another 7 points. A few other penalties stalled drives. We got away with those mistakes because we were completely dominant in this game, but we can’t get away with them against teams like Florida, South Carolina, Missouri, etc. This was a 24-0 game that could’ve been 45-0 if not for stupid errors. Hopefully, we get things cleaned up before Florida.

Helton offense. Overall, I’m impressed with the Tyson Helton offense. Looks a lot better than the Butch Jones offense, but as we saw in this game, it may take awhile till we have 11 guys on the field that we feel confident running it.

Right side of O-line still struggling. The O-line looked better in Game #3 than it in Game #2 and Game #1 but still significant problems on the right-side, particularly on running plays. Most of our big runs have come running to the left. Not sure that we can continue getting away with only running on one side of the field in the SEC.

Drew Richmond at RT. Hate to call players out, but he’s consistently struggled at Right Tackle. He had 4 penalties that I counted, one that took away a touchdown that was particularly bad since it wasn’t anywhere near the ball and involved a completely unnecessary chop block. He often gets overpowered on run plays. I’m hoping Richmond figures things out, but I also wonder if the coaching staff will consider taking looks at Marcus Tatum or Nathan Niehaus (who has performed well as Trey Smith’s backup at LT) at RT.

Ryan Johnson had a great game. Johnson struggled a lot versus West Virginia, but I thought he played very well in this one. That’s a good sign especially when you consider how quickly he had to transition to playing Center.

We have 2 top 10 SEC RBs. We knew Chandler was a top 10 SEC back heading into the season, but I think both Chandler and Jordan are in that category now. Madre London and Jordan Banks are pretty good, too. I’m liking this RB group a lot! I thought it would be good at the beginning of the season, but it's been better than expected, goal-line fumble aside.

JG played extremely well. This was JG’s best game. 12 for 16 for 168 yards and he would’ve been 14/16 if not for dropped passes. He looked near perfect in the 1st half. A few small mistakes in the second half, but the wind was also impacting deep passes at that point.

JG to Palmer deep pass. Spectacular throw in 1st Quarter. Also great pass protection on that play. We need more of that.

Swain was right about Palmer. Swain called Josh Palmer out best WR at the beginning of the season. I'm starting to believe it.

Cimaglia nails FG. It was just one FG, but Cimaglia hit it perfectly. Let’s hope that’s a sign of things to come.

Joe Doyle. Have walk-on punters replaced our old tradition of Colquitt family punters? Is Tennessee just filled with good punters ignored by the recruiting services?

Chryst. I agree with some other posters that it was weird to bring Chryst in when we did. Felt like it disrupted our rhythm a bit. Hoping this is just something we're doing OOC and not with the SEC games.


Defense

We had a pass rush! Other than the JG to Josh Palmer deep pass, I was most excited seeing our D-line and LBs penetrate UTEP’s backfield. We got 1 sack (but should've been credited with 2), but we finally got some pressure on the QB!

6 QB Hurries, 1 Sack. Pretty good. Definitely want to see more of that! Darrell Taylor and Jonthan Kongbo both recorded 2 QB hurries. I also think that one play they called an "incomplete pass" should have been called either a fumble or lateral for a loss; it clearly did not go forward.

Shamburger. Great knockdown on that deep pass; would’ve been a TD for UTEP otherwise. One of the best plays of the game.

Paul Bain. Gotta admit, it's great any time I see Paul Bain make a big play. Think he had a tackle for loss at one point.

Players getting more comfortable. The biggest thing I sensed from this game was that our LBs and D-linemen felt more comfortable and natural this game. They seemed to react much more quickly than they did versus West Virginia or ETSU.

Overall. Any time you get a shutout, you should be happy. This was the best I've seen our defense play this year. We made a few minor mistakes that I saw, but I thought the D looked improved in this game, albeit, they’ll get their real test next week.

Backups. Not only did we get a shutout, but we did it playing our backups quite a bit. Tough to tell watching the game sometimes, but the stat sheet shows 19 different players with a tackle recorded.


Miscellany

Can’t read too much into it. UTEP is not a good team, so tough to read too much into a win. Every SEC team we face will be much better. That said …

Why so negative? I’m baffled as to why people were so negative after this one. We completely dominated both sides of the ball with a vanilla game plan. Mistakes hurt us a bunch, but overall, this was the best our offense and defense looked since 2016 in the Virginia Tech game. We have a long ways to go, but this team has definitely improved significantly since Pruitt arrived. And sure, this was UTEP, but remember, we looked awful versus UMass and Southern Miss last season.

3 SEC wins. While I like the improvement, the road ahead is still tough. We need 3 SEC wins to make a bowl.


The SEC and CFB

Auburn. I watched the entire Auburn-LSU game. Not sure what to take away from the game, as LSU crushed Miami, so maybe LSU is better than everyone thought. We do have 2 weeks to prepare for Auburn, so it's our most legitimate shot at a (very unlikely) epic upset.

Kentucky. The scary thing is that the Kentucky game is looking much tougher right now. Never thought I’d say that.

Florida. I continue to believe that this is our most winnable SEC game. Florida played well against Colorado State, but CSU has no defense, and has some pretty bad losses. Just like I wouldn't read much into a UT win over UTEP, I wouldn't read much into Florida's win over CSU. That said, we have the better team and I feel like we should win at Neyland. We'll see what happens.

Arkansas. Worst team in the SEC this season. Chad Morris has a very tough job ahead. Losses to Colorado State and a blowout loss to North Texas. Yikes!

Florida State. Wow. This is the worst Florida State team I've ever seen. They just got blown out 30-7 by a Syracuse team that was 4-8 last season and in its last 3 ACC games of 2017, gave up 64 points to Wake Forest, 56 to Louisville, and and 42 to Boston College.

1st Year Coaches. Not doing too well this season. Scott Frost just lost to Troy (albiet with a backup walk-on for a QB), Willie Taggart's FSU team is a trainwreck, Dan Mullen lost to Kentucky, Chad Morris lost to North Texas and Colorado State, Chip Kelly is 0-3 with losses to Fresno State and Cincinnati. It's almost as if coaches don't magically turn programs around overnight

Can't wait till next Saturday!

GBO!

Dont forget that Vandy nearly (and should have) beat the #8 team on their own field. Everybody thought theres no possible way UT loses to Vandy in Nashville. Well, I guess we will see.

Agree that if we cant beat this aweful UF team in Knoxville, there is no logical case to beat any other SEC team. If you predict it, you are doing so on the basis of blind luck or some miracle happening.

 

[MWAVolfan]

Am I the only one that is questioning Helton? I haven't bought into his abilities. He's made some bonehead calls. They have a MAJOR identity crisis on offense. Personally, the O-Line is so bad that I think they should throw it every single down. Let JG win us or lose us the ball game. I like our chances with this kid at QB. That position was the biggest question mark heading into the season and is BY FAR the most stable position we got. JG is doing much better than anticipated.

Part of the identity crisis (and Helton's play calling) is due to the fact that Helton cant trust that half his offensive players will even show up to play meaninglul football. Especially the OL. Its hard to do anything fancy if the core of your offense leaks like a siv.

 

[Big Orange Rock]

Best piece of the whole post right here! So many people looking for instant results. It will take some time, but Pruitt is moving us in the right direction.

Folks may not be happy about the results so far but I am pretty confident in saying we are not going backwards even though we have a long way to go. Some of these others seem to be going backwards with their new saviors at the helm. My belief is we are not as far from turning the corner as many on here think. If and WHEN we get that win over an SEC EAST or SEC WEST team then we could get much better real fast. After years of wandering through the desert we just need a little parting of the waters and this thing could really turn on a dime. We just have to get THAT WIN first. I for one think it comes against a bad Florida team this weekend. Even with Florida being viewed as a weaker team this year it is still Florida and a victory against them would put us well on our way to a bowl eligible season and that is the glass ceiling for this team this year. If this staff gets them bowling it will be a monumental achievement from whence they came.

 

[DiderotsGhost]

Game 3
0 for 1 - 3 and 4 - pass incomplete
0 for 2 - 3 and goal - delay penalty
0 for 3 - 3 and goal - pass complete but short
0 for 4 - 3 and 15 - JG run short
0 for 5 - 3 and 10 - pass complete short
1 for 6 - 3 and 6 - pass complete

Nice try, kiddo.

JG was 2 for 7 on 3rd down conversions and 1 for 1 on 4th down. Not 1 for 6.

You're lying to defend your poorly made point at this juncture. And your exaggerations are to the point of comic absurdity.

#1: 3rd & 4 - dropped pass --- would've been a 1st down,
#2: 3rd & 4 - 3 yard run by Chandler (converted on 4th down),
#3: 3rd & 1 - Ty Chandler runs for 1st down,
#4a: 3rd & 20 - delay of game after coaches don't get play call in time,
#4b: 3rd & 25 - coaches call a conservative play because it was FREAKING 3RD AND 25!!!!
#5: 3rd & 15 - after O-line allowed JG to get sacked; JG ran for 9 yards but O-line was flagged for holding,
#6: 3rd & 10 - incomplete pass and failed run play set up 3rd & 10; we pass for 1 yard; again conservative play call,
#7: 3rd & 6 - pass complete for 1st down

Though, it is cute how you tried to blame JG for failed 3rd down conversions when Chryst was in the game, but didn't credit him with successful 3rd down conversions if it was a running play. You also failed to mention that JG converted on a lot of 1st and 2nd downs (he was, after all, averaging a first down per pass attempt at 10.5 ypa), and that most of the 3rd downs involved a penalty or failed run plays the previous two downs.

Gotta love that "JG run short" on a 9 yard run, too, without any context of the sack on the previous play from blown O-line assignments.

I'm not even really convinced that you watched the game. Just looks like you checked the box score, found the first negative thing you could, and went full-blown "BLAME JG!"

 

[piratelifeforme]

Nice try, kiddo.

JG was 2 for 7 on 3rd down conversions and 1 for 1 on 4th down. Not 1 for 6.

You're lying to defend your poorly made point at this juncture. And your exaggerations are to the point of comic absurdity.

#1: 3rd & 4 - dropped pass --- would've been a 1st down,
#2: 3rd & 4 - 3 yard run by Chandler (converted on 4th down),
#3: 3rd & 1 - Ty Chandler runs for 1st down,
#4a: 3rd & 20 - delay of game after coaches don't get play call in time,
#4b: 3rd & 25 - coaches call a conservative play because it was FREAKING 3RD AND 25!!!!
#5: 3rd & 15 - after O-line allowed JG to get sacked; JG ran for 9 yards but O-line was flagged for holding,
#6: 3rd & 10 - incomplete pass and failed run play set up 3rd & 10; we pass for 1 yard; again conservative play call,
#7: 3rd & 6 - pass complete for 1st down

Though, it is cute how you tried to blame JG for failed 3rd down conversions when Chryst was in the game, but didn't credit him with successful 3rd down conversions if it was a running play. You also failed to mention that JG converted on a lot of 1st and 2nd downs (he was, after all, averaging a first down per pass attempt at 10.5 ypa), and that most of the 3rd downs involved a penalty or failed run plays the previous two downs.

Gotta love that "JG run short" on a 9 yard run, too, without any context of the sack on the previous play from blown O-line assignments.

I'm not even really convinced that you watched the game. Just looks like you checked the box score, found the first negative thing you could, and went full-blown "BLAME JG!"

Well hell lets put him in the HOF cause 28% on 3rd down is such a great day!!! Do I need to break out the crayons to show you the point?? WE WILL NOT WIN IN THE SEC WITH THIS DUDE AT QB!! The QB that will bring us back to where we need to be is not on the roster or is gonna be red shirted this year. You are exactly right, I dont care for JG because he has shown nothing to make people believe. You wanna talk about the other issues with 3rd down but dont wanna mention the other factors that go with 72% completion. How many were 1 yard passes? How many were to a rb? How many screens?

We were 4/12 as a team on 3rd down. I only quoted the plays that JG was involved in. Why are you included Ty Chandlers run for a 1st down? Gotta find stats to make you POS QB look better?

A serviceable QB and a good defense has yet to win in this league....ask Florida, ask LSU, even Bama struggled when their QB play was poor.

 

[piratelifeforme]

Nice try, kiddo.

JG was 2 for 7 on 3rd down conversions and 1 for 1 on 4th down. Not 1 for 6.

You're lying to defend your poorly made point at this juncture. And your exaggerations are to the point of comic absurdity.

#1: 3rd & 4 - dropped pass --- would've been a 1st down,
#2: 3rd & 4 - 3 yard run by Chandler (converted on 4th down),
#3: 3rd & 1 - Ty Chandler runs for 1st down,
#4a: 3rd & 20 - delay of game after coaches don't get play call in time,
#4b: 3rd & 25 - coaches call a conservative play because it was FREAKING 3RD AND 25!!!!
#5: 3rd & 15 - after O-line allowed JG to get sacked; JG ran for 9 yards but O-line was flagged for holding,
#6: 3rd & 10 - incomplete pass and failed run play set up 3rd & 10; we pass for 1 yard; again conservative play call,
#7: 3rd & 6 - pass complete for 1st down

Though, it is cute how you tried to blame JG for failed 3rd down conversions when Chryst was in the game, but didn't credit him with successful 3rd down conversions if it was a running play. You also failed to mention that JG converted on a lot of 1st and 2nd downs (he was, after all, averaging a first down per pass attempt at 10.5 ypa), and that most of the 3rd downs involved a penalty or failed run plays the previous two downs.

Gotta love that "JG run short" on a 9 yard run, too, without any context of the sack on the previous play from blown O-line assignments.

I'm not even really convinced that you watched the game. Just looks like you checked the box score, found the first negative thing you could, and went full-blown "BLAME JG!"

P.S. cupcake.....if you dont count the Ty Chandler run he goes back to 1 for 6 not 2 for 7.....but dont let actual stats get in the way of your agenda

 

[MoodyVol]

It was cupcake game #2 of the season. While gloom-and-doom seemed to be flooding this board after the game, I felt much more positive about our team after this one. Here were my thoughts.


Offense

512 – 134. Our yardage versus theirs. Even against a G5 opponent, this is pretty impressive. We were completely dominant except for …

Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes!!! Huge mistakes cost us at least 14 points if not more. The chop block near the goal line was 7 points. The fumble near the goal line was likely another 7 points. A few other penalties stalled drives. We got away with those mistakes because we were completely dominant in this game, but we can’t get away with them against teams like Florida, South Carolina, Missouri, etc. This was a 24-0 game that could’ve been 45-0 if not for stupid errors. Hopefully, we get things cleaned up before Florida.

Helton offense. Overall, I’m impressed with the Tyson Helton offense. Looks a lot better than the Butch Jones offense, but as we saw in this game, it may take awhile till we have 11 guys on the field that we feel confident running it.

Right side of O-line still struggling. The O-line looked better in Game #3 than it in Game #2 and Game #1 but still significant problems on the right-side, particularly on running plays. Most of our big runs have come running to the left. Not sure that we can continue getting away with only running on one side of the field in the SEC.

Drew Richmond at RT. Hate to call players out, but he’s consistently struggled at Right Tackle. He had 4 penalties that I counted, one that took away a touchdown that was particularly bad since it wasn’t anywhere near the ball and involved a completely unnecessary chop block. He often gets overpowered on run plays. I’m hoping Richmond figures things out, but I also wonder if the coaching staff will consider taking looks at Marcus Tatum or Nathan Niehaus (who has performed well as Trey Smith’s backup at LT) at RT.

Ryan Johnson had a great game. Johnson struggled a lot versus West Virginia, but I thought he played very well in this one. That’s a good sign especially when you consider how quickly he had to transition to playing Center.

We have 2 top 10 SEC RBs. We knew Chandler was a top 10 SEC back heading into the season, but I think both Chandler and Jordan are in that category now. Madre London and Jordan Banks are pretty good, too. I’m liking this RB group a lot! I thought it would be good at the beginning of the season, but it's been better than expected, goal-line fumble aside.

JG played extremely well. This was JG’s best game. 12 for 16 for 168 yards and he would’ve been 14/16 if not for dropped passes. He looked near perfect in the 1st half. A few small mistakes in the second half, but the wind was also impacting deep passes at that point.

JG to Palmer deep pass. Spectacular throw in 1st Quarter. Also great pass protection on that play. We need more of that.

Swain was right about Palmer. Swain called Josh Palmer out best WR at the beginning of the season. I'm starting to believe it.

Cimaglia nails FG. It was just one FG, but Cimaglia hit it perfectly. Let’s hope that’s a sign of things to come.

Joe Doyle. Have walk-on punters replaced our old tradition of Colquitt family punters? Is Tennessee just filled with good punters ignored by the recruiting services?

Chryst. I agree with some other posters that it was weird to bring Chryst in when we did. Felt like it disrupted our rhythm a bit. Hoping this is just something we're doing OOC and not with the SEC games.


Defense

We had a pass rush! Other than the JG to Josh Palmer deep pass, I was most excited seeing our D-line and LBs penetrate UTEP’s backfield. We got 1 sack (but should've been credited with 2), but we finally got some pressure on the QB!

6 QB Hurries, 1 Sack. Pretty good. Definitely want to see more of that! Darrell Taylor and Jonthan Kongbo both recorded 2 QB hurries. I also think that one play they called an "incomplete pass" should have been called either a fumble or lateral for a loss; it clearly did not go forward.

Shamburger. Great knockdown on that deep pass; would’ve been a TD for UTEP otherwise. One of the best plays of the game.

Paul Bain. Gotta admit, it's great any time I see Paul Bain make a big play. Think he had a tackle for loss at one point.

Players getting more comfortable. The biggest thing I sensed from this game was that our LBs and D-linemen felt more comfortable and natural this game. They seemed to react much more quickly than they did versus West Virginia or ETSU.

Overall. Any time you get a shutout, you should be happy. This was the best I've seen our defense play this year. We made a few minor mistakes that I saw, but I thought the D looked improved in this game, albeit, they’ll get their real test next week.

Backups. Not only did we get a shutout, but we did it playing our backups quite a bit. Tough to tell watching the game sometimes, but the stat sheet shows 19 different players with a tackle recorded.


Miscellany

Can’t read too much into it. UTEP is not a good team, so tough to read too much into a win. Every SEC team we face will be much better. That said …

Why so negative? I’m baffled as to why people were so negative after this one. We completely dominated both sides of the ball with a vanilla game plan. Mistakes hurt us a bunch, but overall, this was the best our offense and defense looked since 2016 in the Virginia Tech game. We have a long ways to go, but this team has definitely improved significantly since Pruitt arrived. And sure, this was UTEP, but remember, we looked awful versus UMass and Southern Miss last season.

3 SEC wins. While I like the improvement, the road ahead is still tough. We need 3 SEC wins to make a bowl.


The SEC and CFB

Auburn. I watched the entire Auburn-LSU game. Not sure what to take away from the game, as LSU crushed Miami, so maybe LSU is better than everyone thought. We do have 2 weeks to prepare for Auburn, so it's our most legitimate shot at a (very unlikely) epic upset.

Kentucky. The scary thing is that the Kentucky game is looking much tougher right now. Never thought I’d say that.

Florida. I continue to believe that this is our most winnable SEC game. Florida played well against Colorado State, but CSU has no defense, and has some pretty bad losses. Just like I wouldn't read much into a UT win over UTEP, I wouldn't read much into Florida's win over CSU. That said, we have the better team and I feel like we should win at Neyland. We'll see what happens.

Arkansas. Worst team in the SEC this season. Chad Morris has a very tough job ahead. Losses to Colorado State and a blowout loss to North Texas. Yikes!

Florida State. Wow. This is the worst Florida State team I've ever seen. They just got blown out 30-7 by a Syracuse team that was 4-8 last season and in its last 3 ACC games of 2017, gave up 64 points to Wake Forest, 56 to Louisville, and and 42 to Boston College.

1st Year Coaches. Not doing too well this season. Scott Frost just lost to Troy (albiet with a backup walk-on for a QB), Willie Taggart's FSU team is a trainwreck, Dan Mullen lost to Kentucky, Chad Morris lost to North Texas and Colorado State, Chip Kelly is 0-3 with losses to Fresno State and Cincinnati. It's almost as if coaches don't magically turn programs around overnight

Can't wait till next Saturday!

GBO!

You Sir, disgust me.

How dare you enter this forum with such nonsense. This forum thrives on negativity and uniformed opinions ruling over any logical reasoning, at every opportunity.
Then you have the audacity and colossal gall to spew this entirely reasonable, semi-positive, mostly accurate, non-nonsense.

Shame, shame on you.

(Blue font)

 

[piratelifeforme]

DiderotsGhost, I was looking back on a few of your quotes in the past. I especially like the one where ou say we should have hired Bob Shoop as the head coach because it worked out for Clemson. The Harbough quote is brilliant as well. You even admitted the JG is not a better passer than QD was and QD was terrible. But who care if we just spew nonsense from our lips without thinking about what we have said in the past. You could have a great career in Washington. Maybe you should go to a Bernie Sanders rally.

"Pruitt created major locker room problems when he was at Georgia a few years ago under Mark Richt. Those problems were one of the reasons Mark Richt was forced to exit. Also worth noting that Kirby Smart (wisely IMO) chose not to retain Pruitt. I'd compare Pruitt to Lane Kiffin."

"Harbaugh took over a 5-7 team and he's won 76% of his games. He lost 3 games at the end of last season"

"I'd go with Shoop. No one wants to consider this, but if the search doesn't turn out well, we might have to consider hiring someone like Shoop on the cheap. No, it's not ideal, but it's worked out before with Dabo Swinney at Clemson. Shoop could turn out to be a better HC"

"There's a chance JG plays better than QD, but it's not because he's a better passer. It's because our Wide Receivers are playing terrible, and even when they do get open, QD can't seem to hit 'em unless it's the 4th Quarter. If we can't throw the ball worth a crap anyway, we might as well take the QB who can run the ball better."

 

[05_never_again]

Am I the only one that is questioning Helton? I haven't bought into his abilities. He's made some bonehead calls. They have a MAJOR identity crisis on offense. Personally, the O-Line is so bad that I think they should throw it every single down. Let JG win us or lose us the ball game. I like our chances with this kid at QB. That position was the biggest question mark heading into the season and is BY FAR the most stable position we got. JG is doing much better than anticipated.

Jury is still out on Helton and will be for most of this season until we see a larger sample size, but your comments aren't off the mark.

Helton seems to want to show multiple looks, which is fine, but it seems fairly predictable what the call is when doing so. He likes spread looks between the 20s and runs and passes out of both. I'd like to see more pro-style sets all over the field, not just inside the 5 yard line, and not just in situations where you need a yard or 2 for a first down. Line up and run right at people no matter the field position, not just in an obvious running situation like 1st and goal from the 2.

 

[VolsAgainstTheWorld15]

Watch that one and then watch him on the play immediately following. He whiffs on a guy that gets to JG.

I've noticed quite a few plays like those from him.

On a good note... Carvin is starting to really play. A couple of times he just absolutely mauls the guy he's blocking.

I really like Carvin's potential. He appeared to play relatively well Saturday from my vantage point.

 

[VolsAgainstTheWorld15]

Am I the only one that is questioning Helton? I haven't bought into his abilities. He's made some bonehead calls. They have a MAJOR identity crisis on offense. Personally, the O-Line is so bad that I think they should throw it every single down. Let JG win us or lose us the ball game. I like our chances with this kid at QB. That position was the biggest question mark heading into the season and is BY FAR the most stable position we got. JG is doing much better than anticipated.

Pruitt wants to be a physical, run first offense. With that being said, I do think they open the passing game up a bit on Saturday. I think you'll see no less than 25 pass attempts.

 

[VolsAgainstTheWorld15]

Dont forget that Vandy nearly (and should have) beat the #8 team on their own field. Everybody thought theres no possible way UT loses to Vandy in Nashville. Well, I guess we will see.

Agree that if we cant beat this aweful UF team in Knoxville, there is no logical case to beat any other SEC team. If you predict it, you are doing so on the basis of blind luck or some miracle happening.

Vandy played well and is probably better than we are, but let's face it: Notre Dame ain't the eighth best team in the country. MAYBE a top 25 team, but definitely not a top 10 team.

 

[AndyMizunogolfer]

I finally got to watch the replay. Looks to me we treated it as a glorified scrimmage. 21-28 points left on the field due to numerous mental mistakes. Then you have the odd timing of the QB changes. I have been somewhat critical of JG this game though he seemed to put a lot of things together. He was making checks on the line and moving players into positions. He was also finally doing what I said he had to do cutting the negative plays by using his legs a little. Overall after watching the game I actually feel better. OL is still a glaring issue though. For all of the love for Banks and his hard nosed running style. I have to say ball control has to be a major focus for him this week. I would like to see him shy away from some of that contact and make the cut around the defender. Don't get me wrong the RB laying the blow is nice. Although if you can jump cut the guy and get 3-5 more yards then I would much rather have those.